The seated dead: Evidence of funerary complexity from the early Late Bronze Age, 14th–12th centuries BCE in France

Abstract

In the early Late Bronze Age of the Seine-Yonne and Seine-Aube confluences in northern France, novel funerary practices include the repeated use of a seated position (i.e. with the vertebral column in a vertical position) of the deceased within a container, most often a rigid one, placed in a pit whose diameter rarely exceeds 1m. The use of these graves does not appear to be limited solely to the deposition of the deceased, as re-opening and post-inhumation activities have also been identified. Many of these graves contain animal bones, sometimes in large quantities, above or next to the human remains. Furthermore, anthropogenic interventions, including bone removal during or after decomposition of the corpse, can be demonstrated. These practices are particularly well illustrated among the 136 buried individuals in the “Frécul” necropolis in the Barbuise and La Saulsotte areas (Aube). Thirty-six individual graves were also re-used for successive inhumations at Barbey “Les Cent Arpents” (Seine-et-Marne). We propose hypotheses about the way these funerary structures were used, following a sort of bone-collecting process, and reflect upon the funerary programme of which they were a part.